Former staff members of the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) are set to be handed a lifeline in regard to their employment status.
This is after acting Social Health Authority (SHA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert Ingasira on Tuesday, November 26, announced that the former NHIF employees will be onboarded to SHA for the next six months as the authority gets its house in order.
This comes after growing discontent amongst the 1,700 NHIF employees who mulled over the uncertainty of their futures amidst the transition into the Social Health Insurance Fund. The employees claimed that their interests should be looked after even as the government moved to the new health funding model.
In an anonymous interview with Citizen TV, an employee revealed that a majority of NHIF employees are currently experiencing anxiety, fear, and uncertainty due to the situation.
SHA had initially promised to integrate them into the new structure, but recent developments indicated that the new health authority will only retain a limited number of employees and has imposed stringent conditions for their selection.
However, Ingasira has now moved to reassure the NHIF staff about their futures for at least the next six months.
“The expectation is that within the next six months, SHA will have determined the number of staff and the qualifications of the staff that it is willing to take. Thereafter, the balance of staff will be released into public service,” Ingasira commented.
According to the transitional clauses, the NHIF staff were accorded three options: To apply for SHA jobs, to be deployed into other government entities through the Public Service Commission (PSC) and early voluntary retirement.
“After six months, at that stage, those who will be interested in exercising the option to retire will now be given the opportunity to do so. Retirement is voluntary and will be subjected to other regulations, ” he added.
SHA has in the past stated that it has an initial staff establishment of 500 that was approved by the PSC. The authority is set to advertise the jobs at the end of the year.
At the same time, the government has announced that Kenyans relying on the Social Health Authority (SHA) treatment schemes will now be able to access key health services at more facilities across the country following the finalisation of key agreements.
Ingasira on Tuesday, November 26, announced that patients will now be able to access primary health care at select Level Four facilities across the country.
